Extended Thoughts - Zelda: Link Between Worlds
Jared takes a look at The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Synopsis Jared wanted to do a full review on Link Between Worlds, but he needed to focus on other things. Jared thinks that this is the best Zelda game in over ten years. Every game since Ocarina of Time, the games have been trying to make combat interesting, but that is not what Zelda is about. Zelda is about exploration, freedom, dungeons and puzzles. Z Targeting worked well in Ocarina of Time, and all the other games expand upon the combat. This one doesn't, it has three attacks. The puzzles and dungeons are interesting and fun. Jared's favorite Zelda game is A Link to the Past, and that game was all about checking out the world and solving puzzles. The other Zelda handheld games focused too much on the use of the touch screen to make them interesting, and those games sucked! This is the first Zelda game in a long time that doesn't have a partner telling the player where to go. It feels awesome. Ever since Ocarina of Time, the player was babysat. Jared doesn't need to be told what to do. Jared loved A Link to the Past because the world and map were very interesting. A Link Between World borrowed most of the map from A Link to the Past, and every part of the map is interesting and has something to do. All the other games have empty and boring open areas. As much as Jared loved sailing in Wind Waker, there was a lot of empty areas of just water. The other games had large spaces filled with nothing. There are a lot of optional items in this game, but in the dark world, almost every chest in an optional item. The game rewards exploration throughout the dungeons. Jared discusses the stamina gauge, and discusses how weird it is how there is an excuse for the boss to give the player arrows back. In this game, because of the stamina bar, the player just has to wait for the bar to fill up, and then fire again. Jared thought the stamina gauge was weird at first, but it worked. All of the dungeons were excellent, but Jared wanted them to be larger. All of them were cool, because they were all different. Every dungeon felt unique and stood out from the rest. Jared's favorite dungeons were the ones in the dark world. He liked using the sand rod in the Desert Palace. He liked the Ice Dungeon because it had several layers to it, and the player gets the boss key right away, and has to spend the rest of the dungeon getting to the boss. Jared really liked the Thieves Hideout, because it is a dungeon where the player doesn't need any items, apart from a few bombs. There are enemies that functions as bombs. It was cool and fascinating. There are no items to fight the boss with because it doesn't need them! A lot of the puzzles can be solved with different items. Rather than using the propeller item to be blown across a gust of wind to hit a switch, Jared dropped a block of ice on it! This is a really great Zelda, and this is the first Zelda game since A Link to the Past that made Jared want to play the game again right away. Jared can't decide whether this game or Link to the Past is better, and he goes with Link to the Past for nostalgia reasons even though he thinks that A Link Between Worlds is probably better. He apologizes to Fire Emblem, as A Link Between Worlds, is the new best 3DS game! Category:Extended Thoughts Category:Videos